The House In The Grove in Veneux-les-Sablons, France by ARBA

Article source: ARBA

A private house built in a grove near Fontainebleau. The building is compact and its higher floor levels are incorporated into a wooden roof.

When we first visited the garden in which this house was to be built, we came to the conclusion that the challenge would be one of scale. A high or extended building would have blocked and ruined the full view of this charming orchard. And we had to find the right balance between our intervention (the building’s height and ground impact) and the site proper.

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

• Architects: ARBA (Jean-Baptiste Barache & Sihem Lamine)
• Project: The House In The Grove
• Location: Veneux-les-Sablons, France
• Photography: Hervé Abbadie
  
• Companies involved: Duhamel/AUTIGNY, Menuiserie Ressy/AUXY
• Project Year: 2011

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

In addition to being compact and smooth, the building had to give the overall impression of being low to the ground. The gutter line and the down
slope perimeter had to be the lowest possible. That’s how the two upper levels of the house ended up being integrated within a wooden roof clad in stick panels. Our target was to make them less readable, to make them fade away!

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

The garden level, however, is treated differently. It adjusts snugly to the outside environment. Framed views, crossing views and openings allow for such a relationship. Clad surfaces, for their part, are treated with a rhythmic panelling and embossed wood strips.

The strips also contribute in reducing the scale of a blind wall. They bring it within the reach of a human hand.

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

ARBA: JEAN-BABPTISTE BARACHE & SIHEM LAMINE

arba- as in the French word arbalétrier, a rafter, a key element in a wood frame. It supports the roof and withstands wind, rain, and snow loads. It is also, as in arbalète which is the French word for a crossbow. An instrument consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles. It might also be as in arba’a the Arabic word for the number four, an echo of the first question at the beginning of a project: How to choose the best orientation among the four cardinal points?

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

arba- is a young architecture studio established in Paris since 2007 by two architects : Jean Baptiste Barache and Sihem Lamine.

arba- is dedicated to developing new housing solutions aiming at sustainability, affordability and interaction with the natural and the built environment.

arba- propose an architecture that is humble, affordable, sustainable and poetic.

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

arba- designs houses as functional, smooth, simple and optimal pieces. Their main purpose, ‘to serve as a dwelling’, is not separable from a seco

nd purpose: ‘allow to see through’. Such houses relate more to instruments than to buildings. As with musical instruments, lines and shapes are pure and minimal while allowing for a broad range of potential uses. The dweller is naturally involved in a game of uses and interactions with the garden, the neighbourhood, the landscape, the sun, the light.

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

Image Courtesy © Hervé Abbadie

Tags: France, Veneux-les-Sablons

Categories: House, Residential

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